text: The World Chess Champion American - Business Insider Bobby  Fischer, the last US World Chess Champion. Da Nes  via flickr It's been a very long drought for Americans when it comes to the  World Chess Championship. The last American to win was, famously,  Bobby Fischer in 1972. Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in Iceland,  but never defended his title. It was of course a long drought before 1972: in the modern era,  post-1900, there had never been a World Chess Champion from the  United States, prior to Fischer, and the only players who even  had a shot after him were Robert Byrne and Gata Kamsky. Norways's Magnus Carlsen, the current WCC, is actually the first  player from the West since Fischer to claim the title.  On Friday in Moscow, the next World Championship cycle  began, with the 2016 Candidates Tournament. Eight  Grandmasters will compete to face Carlsen in New York in November . And for the first  time ever, two Americans are in the field, both  with excellent chances to win. Fabiano Caruana, 23, is the number three player in the world by  ranking. Hikaru Nakamura, 28, is number six.  As it turns out, the players faced each other in Round 1 of the  Candidates; Naka had the white pieces, Fabby had the black, and  they played to a draw, splitting a point. The remainder of the field consists of only three other players  in the current world top ten, as ranked by FIDE, chess's  governing body: Anish Giri of the Netherlands, Levon Aronian of  Armenia, and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. The Candidates lineup  isn't selected based on ratings, but rather on competitive  criteria derived from a variety of different tournaments and  tournament cycles. Viswanathan Anand, for example, is in because  he won the last Candidates and met Carlsen for the WCC  match, ultimately losing for the second straight time. That said, Anand, the world number 12, seems to save his best for  the Candidates: he notched a win in the first round with  white against Topalov (who was the World Champ in 2005). World 13 Sergey Karjakin and wildcard Peter  Svidler, world number 16, both from Russia, round out the field. GM Hikaru  Nakamura. US Chess  Championship But all eyes will be on the Americans, for obvious reasons:  Carlsen is the most captivating World Champion since  Fischer, a global celebrity; the WCC is coming to New York; and  while Anand was a great World Champion, five times, and spurred a  chess boom in India, a Carlsen vs. Nakamura or Caruana would be a  spectacle and boost chess to a level of excitement it hasn't seen  since the Fischer boom. Of the two, Nakamura has on paper the better chances, given that  his form has been solid for several years . He won a big  tournament in Zurich recently. But he a dismal record against  Carlsen, no wins and 12 losses (18 draws). He has had Carlsen on  the ropes a few times and still lost in demoralizing  fashion.  GM Fabiano Caruana. Alina  L'Ami Caruana's recent play, after an astonishing 2014, has been iffy.  However, he is ranked higher than Nakamura (although his rating,  2794, is only slightly better than Naka's 2790). And  he  switched  his affiliation from Italy to the US only last year . That  said, he's beaten Carlsen more than he's lost to the World  Champion, 5 wins against 8 losses and 10 draws. Carlsen himself said that he thinks Caruana has the best chance  of the two Americans to win the Candidates — but that could just  be Carlsen trying to get in Nakamura's head. The Candidates is pretty grueling: 14 rounds played over the next  two weeks. I'll try to highlight the more interesting games and  keep track of the American challengers. World  Champion Magnus Carlsen. FIDE For what it's worth, an interesting media dustup has developed as  the Candidates is kicking of. For the first time since the  internet has become a major factor in chess fandom, both the  Candidates and the World Chess Championship will only be viewable  on WorldChess.com . This includes the game moves. Before, a lot  of real-time coverage and analysis was ge